KemetLeads

Their words

“I make obeisance to God who created me!”

As reported by al-Umari · Masalik al-absar (c. 1337), trans. Levtzion & Hopkins, Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History (1981), pp. 269–273

Context Brought before the sultan in Cairo and told to kiss the ground, Musa refused, then prostrated while saying these words, according to al-Umari.

Portrait of Mansa Musa
Mansa MusaMali · c. 1280–1337
Read their story →

Pick the card background

Share on X WhatsApp All quotes

More words from Mansa Musa

“The king who was my predecessor did not believe that it was impossible to discover the furthest limit of the Atlantic Ocean and wished vehemently to do so.”
Mansa Musa Mali
“He left me to deputize for him and embarked on the Atlantic Ocean with his men. That was the last we saw of him and all those who were with him, and so I became king in my own right.”
Mansa Musa Mali
“We belong to a house which hands on the kingship by inheritance.”
Mansa Musa Mali
“I came for the Pilgrimage and nothing else. I do not wish to mix anything else with my Pilgrimage.”
Mansa Musa Mali

More words from Empires & Antiquity

“I have restored that which was ruins, I have raised up that which was unfinished.”
Hatshepsut Egypt
“I would rather die free than live as a subject of the colonizer.”
Samori Touré Guinea
“I am the shark that troubles the bar.”
Béhanzin Benin